There are tons of programmes available during the Judo Festival in Porec. One of those is the Kids Camp, which originally started with the project called Judo and Family. This project was established years ago like a separate venture which then perfectly fall into the agenda of the Judo Festival.
The program invites all children to improve their judo skills together with others. Those involved, have the opportunity to learn variety of judo games and some basic techniques, all blended in fun and family factors. The different trainings include ukemi exercises; special exercises for skills development, which is necessary for further learning of judo; exercises to improve coordination and general physical condition.“First of all, like we state; Judo is more than a sport. The ‘Kids Camp’ program based on trainings for children and parents together. Within these trainings the parents play several roles, for example, being training partners, personal coaches and also being students themselves”, explained Kids Camp project leader, Yuri Krischuk.
The Judo Festival lasts for 10 days and during this period kids have their morning sessions on the beach which includes stretching and some physical activities. “Parents start to have an understanding about judo. It is important that parents find time to do judo with theirs kids and the results of this pays off on a larger scale. For example, at the age of 14-15 when kids are most likely to quiet, those who were involved in this project will normally stay because their closest ones were there along their journey, so they will have the full understanding of it”, continued Krischuk.
Sport offers opportunities for children to engage in valuable relationships with adults, which is especially important when such a settings are not available at home. It is also known, that being a member of a community that includes teammates, coaches and family can provide dynamic self-confidence and improve social skills. How does it reflect back at the Kids Camp project? “Absolutely correct!”, said Krischuk. “This project definitely gives a better socializing skills to each and every member and especially for the kids.”
To conclude his thoughts, Russian expert, Krischuk added: “This project is really powerful. Parents also getting involved in judo in many different ways, for example, becoming coaches or local referees and so on. As from the technical point of you, it is also really useful because according to our experiences, 10 days in this camp equals 3 months of ordinary group trainings.”